Pula and Venice

We continued on the coastal route from Zadar to Pula. Pula has a very well preserved coliseum. Beleive it or not when we were there they were installing a hockey rink for a tournament that will be held next week. The temperatures were at least in the 80's while we were there. Sounds like a challenge, and so sorry we won't be there to watch the hockey. Pula has a great Italian influence. All of the street names are both in Croatian and Italian. The food is predominantly seafood and Italian. Pizza, pasta and gelato. Our last night we went all out with a seafood platter. Ray has a photo with a description of the deliciousness. Typical of most european cities lots of open areas loaded with cafes. Pula had many places that were drinks only...no food. We continued to do a lot of walking.

After two days in Pula we boarded a ferry for Venice. It was a relatively smooth ride and took 3 hours. The ferry was packed. 280 regular seats and 30 VIP seats. The VIP seats were on the second deck and gave you more room. Not much room for walking around. They served drinks and food, which was a joke. They served the drinks in real coffee cups with saucers, not covered paper cups. By the time Ray brought me my coffee from the first deck it was in the saucer. And you are aware that a cup of coffee here is about one big gulp.

Got to Venice a little late due to ferry traffic jams. Arrived around 11:30. Walked to our first destination which was a church that housed one of our paintings. Continued on to the next church and discovered it was closed for lunch. That was fine, cause we went on to check into our hotel and have a bite to eat...pizza and beer. Walked back to the church and ticked the box for the second painting. Next stop was the Accademia. It was late in the afternoon and we weren't very hopeful of much success in the short time of less then 2 hours, but much to our surprise we saw all six with ease. It is nice where the galleries are all on one floor. The stairs are killers for me. Dinner that night at a restaurant filled mostly with locals. We sat outside next to two cute little boys who were very mischevious. They were running all around the place.

Second day in Venice was spent going to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. We had been there on a previous trip, but we were not yet on our picture challenge. This is a modern art museum. Peggy really liked Jackson Pollack, so there are quite a few of his paintings there. They are covered with glass, however, due to the humidity we assume. The Pollacks in Chicago are not covered, as I recall. Did a bit more walking before we boarded the boat and headed to the train station for the last leg of this trip to Milan. Travelled thru Verona and Padua. After we got home Ray looked in the book. 4 paintings in Padua. Rats!! I was a little disappointed in the scenery on the train trip. I felt like I was travelling thru Illinois farm country. Milan blog tomorrow. 

Sep 03, 2012 Pula

Sep 04, 2012 Venice 

Sep 05, 2012 Venice